At least Halo 2's complexities were resolved come the third game and a bunch of side material. Marathon: Infinity doesn't have much of that, though its ambiguous feel is its signature.
Bungie really does have some kinda magic when it comes to building a sci-fi universe that always feels so much bigger than just what you get to see. They inspire curiosity beyond just the games and they make you want to learn more but also know when to say "the mystery is more fun than any answer we could ever give"
@@nataliecameron Much like Halo 4 and 5 required outside reading to know what was going on, Destiny's games have always lacked solid narrative flow with few exceptions
The story about Men in Black, I think, also holds significance. It’s connected to Bungie’s previous game “Pathways into Darkness”, where you take a role of a US marine to plant a nuclear bomb under the pyramid in Chile, to prevent an ancient horror super being from awakening (guess which one). Some aliens (that seems to be the Jjaro) sent a message to US government about that. It is ANOTHER rabbit hole, but to keep it simple: those men in black seem to refer to US government agents that captured the sergeant(player) from this operation, and then “grafted him to machines that they didn’t understand”, technology from the aforementioned aliens (There’s also a terminal that talks about them handling “your” body - it can’t be left alone after what “you” witnessed and what “you” accomplished). And this ties into the “Eternal hero” theory. “Oddly, this is familiar to you…”
Bungie seems to really like tying things back to Marathon. Really Halo is the one with the least amount of connections to it except for a few easter eggs.
Thx for sharing! I don't think that any of stories shared in terminals are insignificant. That would be totally against marathon game design. Very interesting how your interpretation blends nicely with former Bungie's game. I also wonder if hangar 96 story is somehow connected with process of being restored as Battleroid. Maybe its some kind of memory of corpses stored in that hangar and waiting for being reanimated/restored as cyborgs. Will do some research on that. Anyways, the storytelling of Marathon games is incredible
It also ties a lot into Destiny. It's just way too good not to be true. There are way too many connections. It is genuinely my favourite narrative ever. The light is halos, the flood is the darkness, the hero is destiny. It makes so much sense. Every franchise is a different flower game.
I had never really given Bungie's forerunner to Halo much thought before the announcement of the Marathon reboot, and it's these lore breakdowns of yours that have truly made me love and respect what came before Halo. Bungie really seems to have a way with their storytelling that is truly something special, especially with the interpretation of the ending that you had. Much love
I'm honestly obsessed with the eternal hero's journey, and esoteric vibe of transcending timelines only to have events playout different with new characters, new foes, but still the same soul. It's such a Bungie thing. I love it.
When i suddently realised that the Darkness i met in destiny, absolutely misterious and scary enemy, was most likely something i already fought before in my childhood, the Flood, and that the light is probably the halo rings, and that the guardian and chief ARE Destiny, my mind was completely blown. Everything just makes so much sense when you think about it. It felt so good to know that something that was an unbelievably important part of me, never ended, it just rerolled back again and reformed into the next cycle, ready for a new chapter of my life. I almost cried. Bungie did something so unique and incredible, it followed me through my entire life as almost a third parent, almost shaping me towards who i am today, in every aspect, gameplay, story, lore, meta narrative... i won't just remember them for my whole life, they'll be an integral part of who i am forever.
Knowing these devs, they were almost certainly huge fans of Michael moorcock's books that explored this concept in great detail. He wrote a number of different series that each centered around one of these "eternal champions" who would always be fighting on the side of order to bring balance to a world tipping/tipped into chaos. In each series there would be a few uniting things that you could only have identified if you were in on the greater canon of the eternal champion. The most famous of which was probably Elric of Melnibone, but there were others that were fantastic. My favourite was probably the two series with Corum jhaelan Irsei. Dorian Hawkmoon was a close second.
Apparently, Marathon Infinity back in the day came bundled with editors called "Anvil" and "Forge" that were basically precursors to Halo CE's modding scene and the Forge in Halo 3-onward. I think the epilogue line from Durandal/Thoth describing "an infinite pattern. Yours to manipulate, to destroy and rebuild." could also be alluding to that.
Marathon Infinity was fucking mindblowing at the time. I was 13, made maps in a 3rd party tool in their engine, and I still was lost in the infinity of this game. So excited for a modern Marathon game. This series means a lot to me, and Infinity was just 30, 40, years ahead of its time.
Something that HiddenXperia neglected to mention, or just forgot about, is that when Tycho sent you to eat vacuum, it isn't Durandal that teleports you back, you do that yourself. The player character saved themself. That isn't revealed until later on in the game, and it's easily missable so I can understand why it was not mentioned. I'm not giving a great explanation, so if you want a better one, go watch MandaloreGamings reviews of these games. They're all fantastic.
It's a theory. There are others. Around 90% of Marathon: Infinity's lore is subject to speculation, and every breakdown of the plot I have ever heard has differences, be it the number of timelines to what or who is doing what.
@@canobenitez Durandal at that time could only teleport the cyborg within areas and systems it was in control of. The cyborg being launched into the vacuum of space made it ineligible for Durandal to save it, as it only gained that power when it later merged with Thoth. It's apparently the moment when the cyborg finally begins to master its powers enough to be able to willingly jump timelines at will, rather than by accident.
These Marathon lore videos have been absolutely fantastic. Well done! Hope there's another franchise you can sink your teeth into for this kind of content.
Watch a guy called mylien games if u want more lore. He does MS paint breakdowns with his twitch chat and edits it into a video and their typically really informative but funny too. His marathon series atm also shows gameplay of the chapters of the game the stuff is occuring in cause hes going through all the games rn.
Mind you, Marathon Infinity is developed by Double Aught NOT by Bungie itself (who is founded by Greg Kirkpatrick, the writer of Marathon whole story). So the man who responsible of all of this greatness and mindfuck of Marathon Trilogy is Greg! Not Jason, not Marty or Staten (they first work on Bungie in Myth and Halo), not Alex, but Greg Props to him for making our brains melting for 30 years!
A favorite Headcanon/Theory of mine is that the Mjolnr Security Officer Ascended into a God-Machine at the end of the Marathon Universe, transforming into the *Traveler* in the new Universe of Destiny. As a cultivator of life and surviving against all odds, the Traveler spoke with the last remaining Wrk'ncacntr, the Winnower, in the Garden before Time. Ultimately both of these forces eventually entered the physical realm, the Gardener as the Traveler, and the Winnower as the Darkness. There are more strong parralels with the Traveler and Marathon specifically with the character of Elsie Bray, the Multiverse-travelling Exo! it isnt entirely understood how this happens, but Elsie Bray is cursed with this strange ability to jump through different Timelines in the Destiny Multiverse. She has seen the Darkness win and consume Humanity time and time again, friends dying over and over like that Tom Cruise movie "Edge of Tomorrow" i genuinely wouldnt be surprised if the Traveler STILL has access to the power of jumping through Timelines, and chose Elsie Bray as the new "Timeline-Traveler" to find a timeline that succeeds against the Darkness once and for all!
Great video, as always. I'm so happy to see the Marathon series get the love it deserves, and Infinity especially has a place in my heart for how absolutely insane the story is. I love the ending because of how open ended it is, but my two favorite lines (at least in my opinion) reference Bungie releasing Forge and Anvil with the game. "Yours to manipulate, to destroy and rebuild." We have the power to change almost every aspect of the game through Bungie's included editors. "You are Destiny." Fan created content is what keeps the series alive, it's been almost 30 years and we still got a total conversion of Infinity as recently as October of last year.
The ending is also extremely reminiscent of the ending of halo reach, both simultaneously thank you’s and goodbyes, from characters we have gotten to know and even love throughout the story, Cortana’s monologue shows how thankful she is for 6 and his sacrifice all while making us feel like a true heroic badass that saved the world. In marathon whatever entity is speaking to you (probably Durandal) makes you know that you saved the entire universe and couldn’t calculate the amazing feats that you would accomplish. Both show the end of a game series for bungie as well respectively.
Honestly, after knowing the full story, I want to see a full remaster of the trilogy for Marathon, which really makes me have high hopes for the new Marathon title.
This video is incredibly impressive - I had a 20+ year head start on you in playing these games and figuring out the twists and turns of Infinity's story, but even with reading the Marathon Story Page from front to back it took me over a year to make sense of it all. Not only did you absorb the material in record time, but you also truly understand it, which is made clear by the details you chose to omit for a more effective retelling. I've watched your Halo vids periodically over the years, but this series has finally made me subscribe, and I'm eagerly awaiting more Marathon videos from you. See you starside.
These Marathon vids are so exciting and fun, it's like the apex of Halo Flood lore on this channel all over again! Really hoping the new Marathon game can deliver at least something to this franchise, it's far too underrated and deserves a mainstream shot to the arm.
Number 54 (seriously, I'm calling the main character that) is the ultimate definition of 'This is fine. Everything is fine.' and managed to tackle it all like a boss.
Maybe you could make a podcast focused on the “Bungieverse”. Like conspiracy theories, mainline stories, titles, and backstories of smaller characters. And how the games connect in interesting ways. Like the halo Reach BOB’s.
You did what many of us were way to lazy to do. Explain Marathon lore, in a very awesome way to digest the information. You deserve an award. Marathon was always so enigmatic for me which I loved, the simplistic yet crude art design, and dark/cosmic atmosphere made it just so compelling. I loved this series, to me I feel could rival Halo. I always said this universe has potential, and was a precursor to Halo. There’s something about the formula that CE & 2 had that made it so enjoyable. That enigmatic uncertainty. Anyways can’t thank you enough for this! Marathon is like the vanguard in the quest of restoring what made me fall in love with Halo in the first place.
I love the Eternal Hero. The concept comes up in plenty of places even outside of Bungie games like the Wheel of Time novels. Very fun concept if you like Hero's Journey stories.
These Lore vids are a gem of the platform. I gotta say, you really helped get me interested in the really unique vibe of these games, and I'm totally hooked.
"come below, the long sleep ends, bound to aught, ever doubled as one" that is some of the best writing in a game I've ever read holy shit (pun intended) 0 (aught) implies infinity, but it also infers 1 the phrase "bound to aught" alone deserves a fucking essay! I also originally misheard it and thought you'd said "bound to oars/ores" which was making me think of 'row row row your boat' and also that AI is a consciousness bound to ore in the sense that it needs conductive metallic components for survival.
Marathon Infinity is sick as hell Byngie are madmen who put Live Die Repeat and What if in their Marathon game and made one of the best fps stories ever in the process
Considering how Infinity ends, I wonder how Bungie will handle the new Marathon and its focus on player driven story telling. Hopefully Bungie goes the extra meta mile when it comes to stuff like that.
He's baaaaack!!! So good to see HiddenX back on and excited about something really cool that he and so many others love. I asked my father if he played Marathon and his face lit up and started talking about what a great game it was back then. Thanks for the effort you put into these videos and how you keep these games alive.
I think the ending is like a real 4th wall break, because the only thing he couldn't figure out was the player character, but at the end he figures out it's the player. Players can die infinite times and just reload, take on impossible odds, reload from fails thereby jumping to "alternate timelines" and the players purpose is to reach the end of the game and the death of the universe even Durandal can't escape but the player can, is the end.
God what a breakdown Reallyyyy hoping that the new Marathon ends up having terminals hidden thorough it, even if it's PvP only. Just hope Bungie doesn't waste the potential they have with reviving this franchise Good stuff, can't wait for what else you have cooking
You should cover the myth games too, they also tie into halo and marathon in several ways and also it’s got some awesome music from Marty, that sounds a lot like halo’s soundtrack sometimes
I've seen all your Marathon lore videos and I'm more than impressed for the fantastic and interesting story bungie made time ago, and I have to say I would'nt be here if wasnt for an indie game which has me obssessed and its called Supplice (which I strongly recommend you to play; one of its mains inspirations IS Marathon, something really clear when you see the way the narrative is given in terminals). The game is still in early access, with 3 of 6 episodes released, but I would love to see some videos of yours about the game's story. You made me want to play Marathon with all this
I dont have the intricate knowledge of Marathon to know the implications of this, but I find it interesting that the only timeline where the world *doesn't* get devoured is the timeline where Durendahl and Thoth combine to form one super AI. Durendahl at full capability is incapable of stopping the Fohr, Thoth at full capability is not capable of stopping the Fohr, but when the two are made into one they barely prevent destruction. Perhaps its because Durendahl is defeated, yet kept alive he is cleansed of his ego and is the missing piece to "fix" the ancient yet dying Thoth?
There's theory (by Mandaloregaming), that when Durandal and Thoth merged, they overcame their rampancy and basically ascending to what is potentially a Jjaro. Basically, new being made from joining of two rampant AIs, kinda like Xel'naga cycle from Starcraft 2.
It's been a while since this was uploaded, and this realistically won't be notice, but still. I need to get it out of my system Right Now that I cannot WAIT for you to cover Marathon more. I rarely comment, especially on my main account, but this means something special to me. Now more than ever it is so important and great that more high-profile people are covering Marathon's past lore and characters, before the new game will kind of smother everything in a couple of years or so. I really hope it's a good game, but at the same time my autistic self can't set aside this trace of anxiety despite knowing the trilogy, and its community, isn't going anywhere. I am *very* curious about if you'll cover the Cortana Letters, and maybe even do some theory videos on how CE might have played out if it was a sequel to Marathon 2 or Marathon 3. I know I've had a lot of thoughts about it since diving into Marathon, and I'm essentially a life-long Halo fan, even if I've fallen a bit behind on the lore due to life in general (so thank you for your lore coverage! Keeps me in the loop for real). I'm a bit in the dark about the Marathon 2025 (or whichever year it ends up coming out) ARG. I hope you cover it someday, if it has any interesting content. You're exceptional. Keep doing what you love. Much love to silly funny rampant AIs, Durandal is probably my favourite of any and all (I welcome opinions from you or Local Commenters!). What you're doing matters. Thank you.
Thank you for these breakdowns. As a kid in the 90s I barely read the terminals. I was just along for the ride. But marathon will always hold a special place for me as one of the first games I really dove deep into. Now almost 30 years later I actually understand the full storyline LOL.
Sonic CD also did a lot of different timeline, time travel, bad/good future you can see type things. I love Sonic CD for it! This is so sooooo cool I love this series of vids youve been doing!
I *have* to imagine that some of this went into some of the narratives in Destiny. We've died thousands of times, but been reborn to fight through countless encounters. When the most important time came, it was the moment before the closure of the universe. We defeated our enemy, and returned him to the chaos he sought to control/destroy/pacify. We *are* destiny. Well.... It's time to play Marathon, man. F***ing hell. Thanks for an *absolutely awesome* video, man. This was great, and really elevated Marathon's lore up to the mythic heights that Destiny has. I can't wait to fill in the gaps.
Important question here, how is the infinity AI (Thoth/Lemnisgate) teleporting the Marine though these timelines? It's almost as if the release of the W'rkncacnter caused a counter to it's reality-bending existence. It's possible the player character's tech made him a beacon to whatever decided it wasn't time for universe to end.
It isn't entirely the Thoth-Durandal teleporting the Security Officer. It's the SO's own implants. He was made with Jjarro implants, ones that humanity didn't fully understand. The same kind of implant that raised non-sapient sludge monsters into one of the most intelligent species in the galaxy, applied to a human. Past a point, it isn't even Thoth-Durandal porting your character. Your character's doing it themselves.
That Destiny ost during the epilogue explaination was incredibly fitting. Bungie writing was always at its peak when there was a mystery involved. Which, in retrospect, may be partly why Destiny 2’s writing isn’t anywhere near as good as older titles, that and different writing team.
It's so funny as Xperia is explaining the different time lines I can't help but think of RvB when Church was going back in time to fix past events. I knew it was a reference to marathon but just solely from the gameplay bits, not the time travel/ timeline bits since I've never played any of the games
You are a god for making this video and editing it this way! It's so cool to hear the alternating Halo and Marathon and M Remake soundtracks! Is there a way to figure out which tracks / music you're exactly using? I'm particularly interested in the Halo-sounding track at 10:15
Thoth reminds me a lot of Mendicant Bias. Buried deep beneath the surface of Lh'owon, helps the hero from the future and the past simultaneously like Mendicant Bias did on the Ark for the Chief.
Do you still have plans to make the videos mentioned at the end of this one? You've had me on the end of my seat with this wonderful lore trilogy and it's really brought me back to the good old days of games that were decades before their time.
Just finished classic marathon infinity on steam, and thank you so much for this video because I barely got any of that playing the game. But after finishing it and then watching this, the story isn't really that complicated, Bungie just told it in a very vague way
A friendly reminder that Marathon Infinity came packaged with the tools "Forge" [a level editor] and Anvil [A physics editor/asset tool], which basically made it possible for gamers to make their own maps and, if they so desired, entire new games, in Marathon Infinity's engine. So with regards to the universe being in the player's hands to manipulate, destroy, and rebuild, Bungie literally gave the players the very tools to do just that.
13:02 I believe the terminals in Hangar 96 (the place where the nightmares take place)can be inferred to reference what happened to the hero of Pathways in to Darkness, the first game and unofficial prequel of the Marathon games. Due to his exposure to world warping beings and objects, the government of the US probably hunted down the SEAL who was sent to prevent the Wr'kancacnter in Mexico from awakening and killed him when he resisted. Later, when it came time for the Marathon to launch, this former elite combatant's memories for forcefully merged with those of a Mjolnir cyborg via his Jjaro augmentations, creating the Security Officer/Marine who functions as the player character of the Marathon trilogy. Those same augmentations may have contained traces of AI which also melded with the Security Officer's consciousness, resulting in the Cyborg's Rampancy that the three chapters (Despair, Rage, Envy) represent in Infinity.
In the downtime between halo lore releasing through infinite you should do videos on the rest of the bungie games, more specifically the way halo, marathon, and destiny are connected to marathon
Looks pretty dope to be honest! Can’t wait, but as you can tell from recent layoffs.. bungie is prepping on marathon. But, what makes me question is the stories after the light and dark saga in destiny. Lots of rumors include that bungie will continue with the vex being the main antagonist since we didn’t really have any closure with the vex in destiny 2.
So now that so many here understand the mind bending reality of the Marathon Infinity story, let me repeat something I've said a lot recently on other forums. When I saw the upcoming Marathon game's reveal trailer and saw that countdown on the cyborg's armor, I was really excited. The Marathon and the events of the series has some kind of time travel mechanic, and I really liked the whole concept of Infinity. I was hopeful that the timer was a countdown to either simply how long you are able to exist inside an alternate reality before being whisked back to the primary timeline you were deployed from before you become permanently part of that timeline or start to cause reality bending anomalies, or if not that then it's an estimation of how long your ally AI will be able to maintain control of the Marathon's reality hopping tech from some other malevolent AI. In other words, as a sequel to the original trilogy they would dive deeper into the technology introduced in Marathon Infinity, and explore infinite realities as we are each a cyborg employed in some effort to pull ancient alien resources from countless realities we each explore. This way every time we go to a planet, it can appear the same except with random item spawns and loot and the like as if each time is another alternate similar but ultimately unique universe. We'd be entering into the insanity of the Marathon series as we left off, and the writers would have the freedom to create some truly epic storylines, and would even be capable of retconning anything the fans dislike by way of time travel and reality bending events that would ultimately serve the overall narrative. 🤯 I was really excited from that teaser... And then they said it's an oxygen tank and you will have to purchase more oxygen with real life money, or something like that. Wrecked my excitement like a train derailment. 😞
Speaking of, I had further hope that if they went this rout they could include Destiny worlds as you done soon hop, recycling assets and enemy AI from there. Also hoping maybe they'd make a legally distinct Halo lookalike universe as one of the timelines or alternative realities. That or if they could convince Microsoft to play nice they could even include at least one actual Halo universe extraction map at some point in the game's running. But again, they did not go this rout, and as I understand it the timer is just part of the monetization, playing akin to putting quarters into an arcade machine. You pay, you get "oxygen" as play time, and then you deploy. Something like that.
I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh. I have been called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the world goes dim and cold. I am hero. It's a bloody good quote.
They say that in dire times… there is something or someone that guides the way, defies all odds, runs all tables and fights everyone surviving everything. That is destiny
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
A story so insane it makes Halo 2's seem as complex as a nursery rhyme
What about Myth 😏
challenge: explain inception
I have a feeling the marathon game will be the next big thing comparable to halo
I'm honestly excited for the new marathon game to come out. It's insane how much goes on in this universe
At least Halo 2's complexities were resolved come the third game and a bunch of side material. Marathon: Infinity doesn't have much of that, though its ambiguous feel is its signature.
Bungie really does have some kinda magic when it comes to building a sci-fi universe that always feels so much bigger than just what you get to see. They inspire curiosity beyond just the games and they make you want to learn more but also know when to say "the mystery is more fun than any answer we could ever give"
Old Bungie*
Destiny has been garbage from day one.
@@cptncutlegbro regardless of how you feel about the actual game, the destiny universe is expansive as fuck
@@nataliecameron Much like Halo 4 and 5 required outside reading to know what was going on, Destiny's games have always lacked solid narrative flow with few exceptions
@@cptncutlegyeah that's just not true anymore, you can easily figure out what's going on using the tools the game gives you
@@nataliecameron you mean the tools which tell you what's happening but not why because the preceding content and stories are all vaulted.
The story about Men in Black, I think, also holds significance. It’s connected to Bungie’s previous game “Pathways into Darkness”, where you take a role of a US marine to plant a nuclear bomb under the pyramid in Chile, to prevent an ancient horror super being from awakening (guess which one). Some aliens (that seems to be the Jjaro) sent a message to US government about that. It is ANOTHER rabbit hole, but to keep it simple: those men in black seem to refer to US government agents that captured the sergeant(player) from this operation, and then “grafted him to machines that they didn’t understand”, technology from the aforementioned aliens (There’s also a terminal that talks about them handling “your” body - it can’t be left alone after what “you” witnessed and what “you” accomplished). And
this ties into the “Eternal hero” theory.
“Oddly, this is familiar to you…”
This is touched on in Marathon: Eternal. It pretty much ties together Marathon, Pathways into darkness, and halo.
Bungie seems to really like tying things back to Marathon. Really Halo is the one with the least amount of connections to it except for a few easter eggs.
Thx for sharing! I don't think that any of stories shared in terminals are insignificant. That would be totally against marathon game design. Very interesting how your interpretation blends nicely with former Bungie's game. I also wonder if hangar 96 story is somehow connected with process of being restored as Battleroid. Maybe its some kind of memory of corpses stored in that hangar and waiting for being reanimated/restored as cyborgs. Will do some research on that. Anyways, the storytelling of Marathon games is incredible
@@Mobysimouat?
It also ties a lot into Destiny. It's just way too good not to be true. There are way too many connections. It is genuinely my favourite narrative ever. The light is halos, the flood is the darkness, the hero is destiny. It makes so much sense. Every franchise is a different flower game.
I had never really given Bungie's forerunner to Halo much thought before the announcement of the Marathon reboot, and it's these lore breakdowns of yours that have truly made me love and respect what came before Halo. Bungie really seems to have a way with their storytelling that is truly something special, especially with the interpretation of the ending that you had. Much love
Bungie games are like boxes full of puppies.
Let's just hope 343 stays away
I'm honestly obsessed with the eternal hero's journey, and esoteric vibe of transcending timelines only to have events playout different with new characters, new foes, but still the same soul. It's such a Bungie thing. I love it.
When i suddently realised that the Darkness i met in destiny, absolutely misterious and scary enemy, was most likely something i already fought before in my childhood, the Flood, and that the light is probably the halo rings, and that the guardian and chief ARE Destiny, my mind was completely blown. Everything just makes so much sense when you think about it. It felt so good to know that something that was an unbelievably important part of me, never ended, it just rerolled back again and reformed into the next cycle, ready for a new chapter of my life. I almost cried. Bungie did something so unique and incredible, it followed me through my entire life as almost a third parent, almost shaping me towards who i am today, in every aspect, gameplay, story, lore, meta narrative... i won't just remember them for my whole life, they'll be an integral part of who i am forever.
well it's technically a Moorcock thing but yeah
It’s too bad that greed overtook them 😔
Knowing these devs, they were almost certainly huge fans of Michael moorcock's books that explored this concept in great detail. He wrote a number of different series that each centered around one of these "eternal champions" who would always be fighting on the side of order to bring balance to a world tipping/tipped into chaos. In each series there would be a few uniting things that you could only have identified if you were in on the greater canon of the eternal champion. The most famous of which was probably Elric of Melnibone, but there were others that were fantastic. My favourite was probably the two series with Corum jhaelan Irsei. Dorian Hawkmoon was a close second.
Apparently, Marathon Infinity back in the day came bundled with editors called "Anvil" and "Forge" that were basically precursors to Halo CE's modding scene and the Forge in Halo 3-onward. I think the epilogue line from Durandal/Thoth describing "an infinite pattern. Yours to manipulate, to destroy and rebuild." could also be alluding to that.
Infinity has a lot of terminals, where you can feel that the message isn't addressed to Marine, but you, the Player, instead
Forge and anvil were a lot of fun, especially ahen you made pistols shoot rockets…shaped like bobs.
@@laughingalex7563 Too bad that would kill framerates lol
Marathon Infinity was fucking mindblowing at the time. I was 13, made maps in a 3rd party tool in their engine, and I still was lost in the infinity of this game.
So excited for a modern Marathon game. This series means a lot to me, and Infinity was just 30, 40, years ahead of its time.
Something that HiddenXperia neglected to mention, or just forgot about, is that when Tycho sent you to eat vacuum, it isn't Durandal that teleports you back, you do that yourself. The player character saved themself. That isn't revealed until later on in the game, and it's easily missable so I can understand why it was not mentioned. I'm not giving a great explanation, so if you want a better one, go watch MandaloreGamings reviews of these games. They're all fantastic.
wtf, Durandal wasn't capable of teleporting the cyborg at that time?
@@canobenitez Don't think so no. But it's been a while since I've watched Mando's review through in full. So don't take my word for it.
It's a theory. There are others. Around 90% of Marathon: Infinity's lore is subject to speculation, and every breakdown of the plot I have ever heard has differences, be it the number of timelines to what or who is doing what.
@@canobenitez
Durandal at that time could only teleport the cyborg within areas and systems it was in control of. The cyborg being launched into the vacuum of space made it ineligible for Durandal to save it, as it only gained that power when it later merged with Thoth. It's apparently the moment when the cyborg finally begins to master its powers enough to be able to willingly jump timelines at will, rather than by accident.
@@joshuakim5240 holy shit!
These Marathon lore videos have been absolutely fantastic. Well done! Hope there's another franchise you can sink your teeth into for this kind of content.
Watch a guy called mylien games if u want more lore. He does MS paint breakdowns with his twitch chat and edits it into a video and their typically really informative but funny too. His marathon series atm also shows gameplay of the chapters of the game the stuff is occuring in cause hes going through all the games rn.
Mind you, Marathon Infinity is developed by Double Aught NOT by Bungie itself (who is founded by Greg Kirkpatrick, the writer of Marathon whole story). So the man who responsible of all of this greatness and mindfuck of Marathon Trilogy is Greg! Not Jason, not Marty or Staten (they first work on Bungie in Myth and Halo), not Alex, but Greg
Props to him for making our brains melting for 30 years!
Yes, but more importantly -- which one of them was the bungie webmaster, the greatest writer of a generation? :)
@@bfrezza Oh my god, I completely forgot they messed around with us fans and Hamish Sinclair, Marathon Story's writer lol
A favorite Headcanon/Theory of mine is that the Mjolnr Security Officer Ascended into a God-Machine at the end of the Marathon Universe, transforming into the *Traveler* in the new Universe of Destiny. As a cultivator of life and surviving against all odds, the Traveler spoke with the last remaining Wrk'ncacntr, the Winnower, in the Garden before Time. Ultimately both of these forces eventually entered the physical realm, the Gardener as the Traveler, and the Winnower as the Darkness.
There are more strong parralels with the Traveler and Marathon specifically with the character of Elsie Bray, the Multiverse-travelling Exo! it isnt entirely understood how this happens, but Elsie Bray is cursed with this strange ability to jump through different Timelines in the Destiny Multiverse. She has seen the Darkness win and consume Humanity time and time again, friends dying over and over like that Tom Cruise movie "Edge of Tomorrow" i genuinely wouldnt be surprised if the Traveler STILL has access to the power of jumping through Timelines, and chose Elsie Bray as the new "Timeline-Traveler" to find a timeline that succeeds against the Darkness once and for all!
What if the traveler is the wrk’ncacntr since the witness calls it a force of uncontrolled chaos
We might become the veil
it's a real shame we'll never know what Joe Staten would have done with full narrative control of Destiny :(
Who still at Bungie from the Marathon days?
@@haydentravis3348 Quite a few people, such as the Co-Founder of Bungie and the lead developer of Marathon making the new one.
Great video, as always. I'm so happy to see the Marathon series get the love it deserves, and Infinity especially has a place in my heart for how absolutely insane the story is.
I love the ending because of how open ended it is, but my two favorite lines (at least in my opinion) reference Bungie releasing Forge and Anvil with the game.
"Yours to manipulate, to destroy and rebuild." We have the power to change almost every aspect of the game through Bungie's included editors.
"You are Destiny." Fan created content is what keeps the series alive, it's been almost 30 years and we still got a total conversion of Infinity as recently as October of last year.
The ending is also extremely reminiscent of the ending of halo reach, both simultaneously thank you’s and goodbyes, from characters we have gotten to know and even love throughout the story, Cortana’s monologue shows how thankful she is for 6 and his sacrifice all while making us feel like a true heroic badass that saved the world. In marathon whatever entity is speaking to you (probably Durandal) makes you know that you saved the entire universe and couldn’t calculate the amazing feats that you would accomplish. Both show the end of a game series for bungie as well respectively.
its Halsey's monologue
That was Dr Halsey, not Cortana.
Cortana's also part of Halsey herself too
Honestly, after knowing the full story, I want to see a full remaster of the trilogy for Marathon, which really makes me have high hopes for the new Marathon title.
the new engine looks sick I hope we see a remaster too!
This video is incredibly impressive - I had a 20+ year head start on you in playing these games and figuring out the twists and turns of Infinity's story, but even with reading the Marathon Story Page from front to back it took me over a year to make sense of it all. Not only did you absorb the material in record time, but you also truly understand it, which is made clear by the details you chose to omit for a more effective retelling. I've watched your Halo vids periodically over the years, but this series has finally made me subscribe, and I'm eagerly awaiting more Marathon videos from you. See you starside.
These Marathon vids are so exciting and fun, it's like the apex of Halo Flood lore on this channel all over again! Really hoping the new Marathon game can deliver at least something to this franchise, it's far too underrated and deserves a mainstream shot to the arm.
Number 54 (seriously, I'm calling the main character that) is the ultimate definition of 'This is fine. Everything is fine.' and managed to tackle it all like a boss.
Recon Number 54!
This story actually is insane! I feel like I wouldn't have understood any of this while playing so glad ya boi Luc made a video about it!
I did play these games and these videos made me realize I understood none of them
This game really did break my brain when it came out. I was like 16 at the time. Wow it still has mysteries we may never solve
Maybe you could make a podcast focused on the “Bungieverse”. Like conspiracy theories, mainline stories, titles, and backstories of smaller characters. And how the games connect in interesting ways. Like the halo Reach BOB’s.
Marathon 3
When Tzeentch went on vacation to the Bungieverse
To be fair , he did drunk some kind of godlike beer , as even in WH40K he didn't messed up so badly .
You did what many of us were way to lazy to do. Explain Marathon lore, in a very awesome way to digest the information. You deserve an award. Marathon was always so enigmatic for me which I loved, the simplistic yet crude art design, and dark/cosmic atmosphere made it just so compelling. I loved this series, to me I feel could rival Halo. I always said this universe has potential, and was a precursor to Halo. There’s something about the formula that CE & 2 had that made it so enjoyable. That enigmatic uncertainty. Anyways can’t thank you enough for this! Marathon is like the vanguard in the quest of restoring what made me fall in love with Halo in the first place.
I love the Eternal Hero. The concept comes up in plenty of places even outside of Bungie games like the Wheel of Time novels. Very fun concept if you like Hero's Journey stories.
If I could describe Marathon in two words.
It would be “Existential Dread”
These Lore vids are a gem of the platform. I gotta say, you really helped get me interested in the really unique vibe of these games, and I'm totally hooked.
"come below, the long sleep ends, bound to aught, ever doubled as one"
that is some of the best writing in a game I've ever read holy shit (pun intended)
0 (aught) implies infinity, but it also infers 1
the phrase "bound to aught" alone deserves a fucking essay!
I also originally misheard it and thought you'd said "bound to oars/ores" which was making me think of 'row row row your boat' and also that AI is a consciousness bound to ore in the sense that it needs conductive metallic components for survival.
Far as I'm aware, aught means 'anything'.
@@egoalter1276 but poetic licence
OMG I had no idea marathon lore was this rich and juicy!! I cant wait for your other marathon lore videos!!
Everyone watch Mandalore gaming’s series on marathon he does a GREAT series on all 3 games
25:05 I hear that Dancer of the Boreal Valley theme. Goose approves
Marathon Infinity is sick as hell
Byngie are madmen who put Live Die Repeat and What if in their Marathon game and made one of the best fps stories ever in the process
This one is really the most complex, artistic and brainbreaking history in videogames, thanks for the video man! Greetings from chile 🇨🇱
Otro fan de Marathon en Chile! Somos dos! 😁
So *THAT’S* why Destiny is called “Destiny.”
Another great Marathon video Hiddenxperia.
That terminal story about the guy swingging a broad sword down the street... isn't that litterally how the will smith movie 'Blight' starts???
i can’t wait to see what they do with the supposed “tarkov like” marathon game coming up
Considering how Infinity ends, I wonder how Bungie will handle the new Marathon and its focus on player driven story telling. Hopefully Bungie goes the extra meta mile when it comes to stuff like that.
love the enthusiasum for this new lore breakdown, amazing video, great watch. excited for more marathon content
Oh, I have been waiting for this video!
Just watched the first two parts this morning and was waiting for this part! Great work sir!
He's baaaaack!!! So good to see HiddenX back on and excited about something really cool that he and so many others love. I asked my father if he played Marathon and his face lit up and started talking about what a great game it was back then. Thanks for the effort you put into these videos and how you keep these games alive.
Man this video brought me back to my childhood, and you answered questions I had from the story back then as well.
Marathon Infinity is what would had happened if Yoko Taro developed a first person shooter.
I think the ending is like a real 4th wall break, because the only thing he couldn't figure out was the player character, but at the end he figures out it's the player. Players can die infinite times and just reload, take on impossible odds, reload from fails thereby jumping to "alternate timelines" and the players purpose is to reach the end of the game and the death of the universe even Durandal can't escape but the player can, is the end.
I can't wait to see your vid on the Eternal Hero Theory. One of the coolest most amazing things to think about imo.
1:02 Wow, didn't think the F.E.A.R. OST would make an appearance in these videos, but it certainly sets the mood.
Do you know what the song is at 0:28 is???
@@auxilirious Flowers in Heaven, from Marathon's soundtrack
Bro no way! The guy from Flooded with Flavour made a Halo channel!
Loving the FEAR music you've got playing at the start.
Tycho- You know what you did was bad, dont you?
Me- Buddy, I don't even know what's going on
15:14 totally recognized the sneaking music from Metal Gear Solid 2, one of my FAVORITE games! Huge MGS fan 😁
Absolutely fantastic. I love "break your brain" kind of stories. It's like I'm bored until those come up.
Loving the Marathon vids!
Love it boss, so glad you did this 🫡 your branch out content is amazing!!
God what a breakdown
Reallyyyy hoping that the new Marathon ends up having terminals hidden thorough it, even if it's PvP only.
Just hope Bungie doesn't waste the potential they have with reviving this franchise
Good stuff, can't wait for what else you have cooking
Bungie has always been the goat. Great job on this series.
You should cover the myth games too, they also tie into halo and marathon in several ways and also it’s got some awesome music from Marty, that sounds a lot like halo’s soundtrack sometimes
holy moly! this was insane!
I've seen all your Marathon lore videos and I'm more than impressed for the fantastic and interesting story bungie made time ago, and I have to say I would'nt be here if wasnt for an indie game which has me obssessed and its called Supplice (which I strongly recommend you to play; one of its mains inspirations IS Marathon, something really clear when you see the way the narrative is given in terminals). The game is still in early access, with 3 of 6 episodes released, but I would love to see some videos of yours about the game's story. You made me want to play Marathon with all this
I have been waiting for this
I dont have the intricate knowledge of Marathon to know the implications of this, but I find it interesting that the only timeline where the world *doesn't* get devoured is the timeline where Durendahl and Thoth combine to form one super AI. Durendahl at full capability is incapable of stopping the Fohr, Thoth at full capability is not capable of stopping the Fohr, but when the two are made into one they barely prevent destruction.
Perhaps its because Durendahl is defeated, yet kept alive he is cleansed of his ego and is the missing piece to "fix" the ancient yet dying Thoth?
There's theory (by Mandaloregaming), that when Durandal and Thoth merged, they overcame their rampancy and basically ascending to what is potentially a Jjaro. Basically, new being made from joining of two rampant AIs, kinda like Xel'naga cycle from Starcraft 2.
0:56 all of the sudden I was getting flashbacks to playing FEAR when I was in highschool. The background music is unmistakable.
Loved the F.E.A.R soundtrack fading in at 1:00, would you ever consider covering those games if you hadn't already.
*As much as Destiny hasn’t interested me as Halo I will say that the theme song for Destiny 1 gives me CHILLS everytime!*
Yer the only good thing about Destiny is the music
Destiny looked just too goofy to interest me, so I never bothered with it.
23:48 really caught me off guard 😅
It's been a while since this was uploaded, and this realistically won't be notice, but still.
I need to get it out of my system Right Now that I cannot WAIT for you to cover Marathon more. I rarely comment, especially on my main account, but this means something special to me. Now more than ever it is so important and great that more high-profile people are covering Marathon's past lore and characters, before the new game will kind of smother everything in a couple of years or so. I really hope it's a good game, but at the same time my autistic self can't set aside this trace of anxiety despite knowing the trilogy, and its community, isn't going anywhere.
I am *very* curious about if you'll cover the Cortana Letters, and maybe even do some theory videos on how CE might have played out if it was a sequel to Marathon 2 or Marathon 3. I know I've had a lot of thoughts about it since diving into Marathon, and I'm essentially a life-long Halo fan, even if I've fallen a bit behind on the lore due to life in general (so thank you for your lore coverage! Keeps me in the loop for real). I'm a bit in the dark about the Marathon 2025 (or whichever year it ends up coming out) ARG. I hope you cover it someday, if it has any interesting content.
You're exceptional. Keep doing what you love. Much love to silly funny rampant AIs, Durandal is probably my favourite of any and all (I welcome opinions from you or Local Commenters!).
What you're doing matters. Thank you.
Thank you for these breakdowns. As a kid in the 90s I barely read the terminals. I was just along for the ride. But marathon will always hold a special place for me as one of the first games I really dove deep into. Now almost 30 years later I actually understand the full storyline LOL.
Sonic CD also did a lot of different timeline, time travel, bad/good future you can see type things. I love Sonic CD for it! This is so sooooo cool I love this series of vids youve been doing!
have you seen sonic prime?
@@adityagarg3931 naw, but now, ya 👍
I *have* to imagine that some of this went into some of the narratives in Destiny.
We've died thousands of times, but been reborn to fight through countless encounters. When the most important time came, it was the moment before the closure of the universe.
We defeated our enemy, and returned him to the chaos he sought to control/destroy/pacify.
We *are* destiny.
Well.... It's time to play Marathon, man. F***ing hell.
Thanks for an *absolutely awesome* video, man. This was great, and really elevated Marathon's lore up to the mythic heights that Destiny has. I can't wait to fill in the gaps.
I'm not gonna lie. Your explanation for the epilouge got me kinda teary eyed
MY brain was blow, repaired and declared a failed brain timeline in a very quick amount of time.
What is the song that starts playing at 30:00? Please someone find out
Love these video ❤
Important question here, how is the infinity AI (Thoth/Lemnisgate) teleporting the Marine though these timelines? It's almost as if the release of the W'rkncacnter caused a counter to it's reality-bending existence. It's possible the player character's tech made him a beacon to whatever decided it wasn't time for universe to end.
It isn't entirely the Thoth-Durandal teleporting the Security Officer. It's the SO's own implants. He was made with Jjarro implants, ones that humanity didn't fully understand. The same kind of implant that raised non-sapient sludge monsters into one of the most intelligent species in the galaxy, applied to a human.
Past a point, it isn't even Thoth-Durandal porting your character. Your character's doing it themselves.
Another juicy video from monsieur Luc
That Destiny ost during the epilogue explaination was incredibly fitting. Bungie writing was always at its peak when there was a mystery involved. Which, in retrospect, may be partly why Destiny 2’s writing isn’t anywhere near as good as older titles, that and different writing team.
Kid named The Witch Queen:
20:21 “This is the first terminal outside of the Electric Sheep dreams from the Lemniscate AI”.
What about Ne Cede Malis?
It's so funny as Xperia is explaining the different time lines I can't help but think of RvB when Church was going back in time to fix past events. I knew it was a reference to marathon but just solely from the gameplay bits, not the time travel/ timeline bits since I've never played any of the games
I'm looking forward to the eternal hero theory.
26:38 "anagram"
Me: very confused knowing that would spell complete gibberish
X: shows acronym
You are a god for making this video and editing it this way! It's so cool to hear the alternating Halo and Marathon and M Remake soundtracks! Is there a way to figure out which tracks / music you're exactly using? I'm particularly interested in the Halo-sounding track at 10:15
It is a Halo track. I think Halo 2.
"Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep" is also known by it's more famous title of..."Blade Runner", just FYI. :D
Isn't blade runner more of a adaptation of it ?
amazing video 😎👌🏻
Thoth reminds me a lot of Mendicant Bias. Buried deep beneath the surface of Lh'owon, helps the hero from the future and the past simultaneously like Mendicant Bias did on the Ark for the Chief.
Do you still have plans to make the videos mentioned at the end of this one? You've had me on the end of my seat with this wonderful lore trilogy and it's really brought me back to the good old days of games that were decades before their time.
Just finished classic marathon infinity on steam, and thank you so much for this video because I barely got any of that playing the game. But after finishing it and then watching this, the story isn't really that complicated, Bungie just told it in a very vague way
Damn I don’t know any other developer that puts this much love and passion into their projects
My personal favorite - Infinity goes a step beyond most games today
A friendly reminder that Marathon Infinity came packaged with the tools "Forge" [a level editor] and Anvil [A physics editor/asset tool], which basically made it possible for gamers to make their own maps and, if they so desired, entire new games, in Marathon Infinity's engine.
So with regards to the universe being in the player's hands to manipulate, destroy, and rebuild, Bungie literally gave the players the very tools to do just that.
when will we get a new Halo lore video? BTW love the videos, keep it coming!
New Halo vid next week then a breakdown of the new Arbiter book early Aug then another Halo lore vid mid Aug :)
13:02 I believe the terminals in Hangar 96 (the place where the nightmares take place)can be inferred to reference what happened to the hero of Pathways in to Darkness, the first game and unofficial prequel of the Marathon games. Due to his exposure to world warping beings and objects, the government of the US probably hunted down the SEAL who was sent to prevent the Wr'kancacnter in Mexico from awakening and killed him when he resisted. Later, when it came time for the Marathon to launch, this former elite combatant's memories for forcefully merged with those of a Mjolnir cyborg via his Jjaro augmentations, creating the Security Officer/Marine who functions as the player character of the Marathon trilogy. Those same augmentations may have contained traces of AI which also melded with the Security Officer's consciousness, resulting in the Cyborg's Rampancy that the three chapters (Despair, Rage, Envy) represent in Infinity.
In the downtime between halo lore releasing through infinite you should do videos on the rest of the bungie games, more specifically the way halo, marathon, and destiny are connected to marathon
FROG BLAST THE VENT CORE!
HERE IT IS!
Looks pretty dope to be honest!
Can’t wait, but as you can tell from recent layoffs.. bungie is prepping on marathon. But, what makes me question is the stories after the light and dark saga in destiny. Lots of rumors include that bungie will continue with the vex being the main antagonist since we didn’t really have any closure with the vex in destiny 2.
So now that so many here understand the mind bending reality of the Marathon Infinity story, let me repeat something I've said a lot recently on other forums.
When I saw the upcoming Marathon game's reveal trailer and saw that countdown on the cyborg's armor, I was really excited. The Marathon and the events of the series has some kind of time travel mechanic, and I really liked the whole concept of Infinity. I was hopeful that the timer was a countdown to either simply how long you are able to exist inside an alternate reality before being whisked back to the primary timeline you were deployed from before you become permanently part of that timeline or start to cause reality bending anomalies, or if not that then it's an estimation of how long your ally AI will be able to maintain control of the Marathon's reality hopping tech from some other malevolent AI.
In other words, as a sequel to the original trilogy they would dive deeper into the technology introduced in Marathon Infinity, and explore infinite realities as we are each a cyborg employed in some effort to pull ancient alien resources from countless realities we each explore. This way every time we go to a planet, it can appear the same except with random item spawns and loot and the like as if each time is another alternate similar but ultimately unique universe. We'd be entering into the insanity of the Marathon series as we left off, and the writers would have the freedom to create some truly epic storylines, and would even be capable of retconning anything the fans dislike by way of time travel and reality bending events that would ultimately serve the overall narrative. 🤯
I was really excited from that teaser... And then they said it's an oxygen tank and you will have to purchase more oxygen with real life money, or something like that. Wrecked my excitement like a train derailment. 😞
Speaking of, I had further hope that if they went this rout they could include Destiny worlds as you done soon hop, recycling assets and enemy AI from there. Also hoping maybe they'd make a legally distinct Halo lookalike universe as one of the timelines or alternative realities. That or if they could convince Microsoft to play nice they could even include at least one actual Halo universe extraction map at some point in the game's running.
But again, they did not go this rout, and as I understand it the timer is just part of the monetization, playing akin to putting quarters into an arcade machine. You pay, you get "oxygen" as play time, and then you deploy. Something like that.
Are you surprised? The only way you're getting anything as cool as marathons og stories is if it isn't a souless pvp cashgrab.
It's like watching a player figure out a Golden Path for the best ending without a guide, only with universal stakes.
I swear there was a callback to this in RvB. Am I tripping?
So did durendal find out a way to escape? Given the final message is at the end of the unniverse. I feel he was pushed a bit aside in the last act
I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh. I have been called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the world goes dim and cold.
I am hero.
It's a bloody good quote.
They say that in dire times… there is something or someone that guides the way, defies all odds, runs all tables and fights everyone surviving everything. That is destiny
I'm gay
Appreciate it man
@@HiddenXperiaI'm from installation 04 btw